UPDATE: Molina trade

Molina to the Rangers for reliever Chris Ray and a player to be named. Buster Posey, here is your pitching staff.

Previously posted:

MOLINA TRADE REPORT

Jon Paul Morosi of FoxSports.com is reporting that a deal sending Bengie Molina to the Rangers could be consummated within 24 hours. Reporters covering the Rangers are saying the team is delaying making a roster move before tonight’s game in Anaheim.

Without Molina, the Giants would be more dedicated to Buster Posey behind the plate, but Eli Whiteside still would be in the mix. The Giants could either move Aubrey Huff back to first base or play more of Travis Ishikawa — given his hot bat off the bench and the fact the team is in need or another left-handed bat.

Fans and media questioned why Bochy sat Posey Monday and Tuesday, but the move would have allowed Molina to be showcased for the Rangers, who are in the market for a veteran catcher.

Molina makes $4.5 million, and he’s still owed about half of that. The Fox report linked first baseman Chris Davis or catcher/first baseman Jarrod Saltalamacchia, both in the minors as possibly part of a deal.

John Shea from the ballpark, where the Giants will try to sneak out a win over the Dodgers, against whom they’re 1-4. . .

Pregame notes

Aaron Rowand is the Giants’ leadoff hitter, so right away we’ll see him face Vicente Padilla — for the first time since Padilla beaned him April 16 and sent him to the DL.

Will Jonathan Sanchez retaliate?

Interesting that manager Bruce Bochy is batting Rowand first. Might as well. Reminds me of what Dusty Baker used to say when it came to friction with other teams: “We don’t start nothing, but we don’t run from nothing, either.”

That might partly explain Rowand’s place in the lineup.

Manny Ramirez is out of the Dodgers’ lineup one day after he walked off saying he had a hamstring injury.

The Giants are 8-16 vs. the NL West — no team in the division has fewer intradivision wins. The Dodgers are 20-5.